I was finally getting back to Cedar Point for the first time since Steel Vengeance opened back in 2018. Sam and Jen would also be joining me. Neither of them had been to Cedar Point before. I know… Crazy, right? Yes, I’ve been to so many parks across the United States with both of them, but never to Cedar Point. Well, that is no longer the case as of Monday, August 31, 2026.
A few months ago we made our plans to visit Cedar Point during the week before Labor Day. We found a nice deal at the park’s Express Hotel – a buy two days, get a third day free package. It was perfect. We were planning on driving up on Monday and then visiting the park on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday we would hit the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton and then head back home to Baltimore.
Of course, plans change.
What ended up happening was us traveling to Sandusky on Monday and arriving with four hours left before the park closed at 8 p.m. Since we had season passes we decided to go in and see what we could ride. We considered it a bonus preview. And man, oh man. What a bonus!
We Walked Into a Ghost Town
When I pulled into the parking lot I told Sam and Jen that it was empty. I’ve visited the park on days where cars were parked all the way back to the toll plaza. On this day, cars were all up by the park’s entrance and only a few rows deep at that. We had preferred parking and that too was mostly empty.
We made our way out of the car and into the park. I didn’t bother with bringing my camera here with two full days still to come. This would be all about getting some extra rides. Little did we know that we’d end up getting in 13 rides between 11 different coasters.
I scored all three of the new credits I needed with Wild Mouse, Top Thrill 2, and Siren’s Curse. Jen landed her 200th credit on Magnum XL-200, which Sam and I said made the most sense with 200 being in its name. And both Sam and Jen finally got to see why so many enthusiasts, myself included, have Steel Vengeance as their Number 1 coaster. The only “elite” coaster we missed out during this small four hour preview was Maverick. It had quite the line so we decided to get in an extra ride on Steel Vengeance and make sure we had time to ride Top Thrill 2 and Siren’s Curse before close.
As for the coasters featured in this trip report, I’m going with my three new credits. Since we will be returning on Tuesday and Wednesday, I will pick other coasters to talk about for each of those based on the rides we did that day. Now, onto Wild Mouse, Top Thrill 2, and Siren’s Curse.
Wild Mouse
To be honest, I recommended that we ride Wild Mouse immediately to get it out of the way. I’ve heard this ride can build up a line with its low capacity. And with no crowds here for our four hour stay, it made sense to ride it. I didn’t want to chance trying to do it on Tuesday or Wednesday if the park ended up being crowded.
I didn’t expect much going in, but I will say this is now my second favorite Wild Mouse behind Idlewild’s Wild Mouse. I love the color scheme, the vibrant mouse and cheese cars, the audio, and the spin you get waiting on the final brake run. The ride itself doesn’t spin uncontrollably to where it makes you want to vomit. It’s just enough to be fun with a course that deviates from the standard hairpin turn layout.
If we luck out with low crowds the rest of this trip, I would love to get back on this ride. Sam said she heard that the cheese car spins more than the mice too. Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to get that one if we come back for a re-ride this trip.
Top Thrill 2
For the first 3.5 hours of our 4 hour visit Monday, both Sam and Jen were joking about how crazy Top Thrill 2 looked and how Sam might have to change her pants after the ride. There was some nervousness for sure, but they both wanted to ride this strata coaster before we left. They just didn’t want to do it first. Not second, third, or fourth either. Hell, not even fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, or ninth. We saved it for 10th. It probably would have been 11th if we wouldn’t have had to walk past it to get to Siren’s Curse and come back again.
Needless to say, I was pumped to experience this coaster and seeing it the entire time in the park that evening only stirred up that excitement even more. I had rode Top Thrill Dragster several times over my visits to Cedar Point in the past. I always loved the coaster and found it superior to Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv). I always loved the lap bars, view, and theming of Dragster and I’m glad it didn’t meet a similar fate as Ka. That all being said, I wondered if I’d like Top Thrill 2 better.
First things first, the trains on Top Thrill 2 are beyond comfortable. I rank them right up there among my favorites like Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s (BGW) Pantheon, Carowind’s Copperhead Strike, and SFGAdv’s Flash Vertical Velocity.
Now to the launches. Sure, Dragster had that punchy launch that would excel the train to the advertised 120 mph in just a few seconds. It was a rush to say the least. Now, the first launch only gets you to 77 mph. You feel it, but not like you did on Dragster. When you fall backwards and hit that launch again though… Wow! Going 100 mph backwards in a launch is unlike anything I’ve experienced. I love Pantheon’s backward launch, but this just feels so much more powerful.
I’d go into the third launch here, but there is something that warrants some attention first. Something big! The backend spike. Holy crap do you see the world shrink below you real quick going backward up that 420 foot tall structure. It’s insane! Pantheon’s backend spike was my favorite, but it has now been surpassed.
And now for that third launch. Although you’re already going 100 mph you still feel that extra kick going over the LSM’s to get you to 120 mph. Both Dragster and Top Thrill 2 advertised/advertise a top speed of 120 mph, but I think Top Thrill 2 actually comes closer to that number. Why? Well, the spiral into the top hat, the top hat itself, and the spiral off of the top hat all feel like they take place at a pace unlike Dragster. Sometimes it felt like Dragster crawled over that top hat. That’s not the case now. I felt like I was going to be tossed out the sides of the train or over the seat itself. The trains sitting up a little higher probably do come into play with that too, but it just feels faster and I think others have had similar feelings.
Coming back down to Earth feels about the same, although in a much comfier train. I always liked the flat track on Dragster as opposed to Ka’s airtime hill. You know, the one with no airtime and trim brakes? Burning off all that speed into the finish line always felt much better to me. I’m glad that was kept.
Wow… What a ride. I’m pretty sure I enjoy Top Thrill 2 over Dragster, but I’d love to get some more rides on it just to make sure. You’ll have to check out my Complete Rankings to find out just where I put it once our trip wraps up.
Siren's Curse
I’m going to be 100 percent honest here and admit that I’ve been waiting for a new age Vekoma coaster to wow me like everyone says they should. Other than Flash Vertical Velocity at SFGAdv, I’ve only been able to ride Vekoma’s new family coasters. And while I do enjoy Flash, I wanted more. With Siren’s Curse, I certainly got it!
There are a handful of coasters out there that I rank higher than the average enthusiast because of a “fun” factor. They might not be the fastest, tallest, most intense, etc., but they are just a ton of fun to ride. I could spend all day riding them. Some of the coasters that meet this criteria for me are Copperhead Strike, both Twister and Phoenix at Knoebels, Alpengeist at BGW, and Twisted Timbers at Kings Dominion. There are more, but those ones are some of my favorites. They’re coasters that most don’t consider to be the best at their respective parks, For me, however, they compete with those coasters and in some cases, even outrank them among my personal favorites.
I can now add Siren’s Curse to that list.
I wondered if the tilt track was going to be a gimmick that would end up being forgettable. I also wondered how the rest of the coaster’s course would fair. I had also heard mixed things about the audio track that plays during the ride. All of those things exceeded my expectations and with the awesome theming under and all around the coaster, it gets more points in my book. Hell, I even love the coaster’s name and logo. I’ll be leaving this trip with some Siren’s Curse merch for sure!
I felt this way about this coaster after two rides, both of which happened right before close with rain that had begun to fall. I’m looking forward to getting in some rides again tomorrow and Wednesday without the rain, which I’m sure will make the experience even better. But with raindrops stinging my face, I still loved every moment of this ride and it’s going to be right up there among my favorites for this park now.
Final Ride Counts
Blue Streak (1)
GateKeeper (1)
Iron Dragon (1)
Magnum XL-200 (1)
Millennium Force (1)
Raptor (1)
Siren’s Curse (2)
Steel Vengeance (2)
Top Thrill 2 (1)
Valravn (1)
Wild Mouse (1)
Off to an Amazing Start
With our four hour preview in the books, we made our way back to our hotel to rest up for Tuesday. We made a great call to check the park out for a few hours with all we managed to experience. Now we can focus on getting in the coasters that we missed, hitting up some flats, and riding some of the rides we enjoyed.
Heck, we might even come back in Thursday for a few hours if we haven’t gotten our fix or the crowds pick up these next two days. We shall see! And I’ll have my camera too so expect to be seeing the Cedar Point Gallery grow substantially by time all these trip reports make their way onto the site.
Cedar Point Photo Gallery - August 31, 2026
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): Wild Mouse, Top Thrill 2, Siren's Curse
Sam
Admiral
New Credit(s): Wild Mouse, GateKeeper, Raptor, Blue Streak, Valrayvn, Iron Dragon, Millennium Force, Steel Vengeance, Top Thrill 2, Magnum XL-200, Siren's Curse
Jen
Admiral
New Credit(s): Wild Mouse, GateKeeper, Raptor, Blue Streak, Valrayvn, Iron Dragon, Millennium Force, Steel Vengeance, Top Thrill 2, Magnum XL-200, Siren's Curse